SNS 117: Saturday Night Special – Interview with Carolina Duarte creator of Messages of Love and Peace

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Welcome to tonight's. Saturday night, special episode 117

[00:00:06] Carolina Duarte: I'm Carolina Duarte. I challenge you to invest in yourself best in, not as developed your influence and eat that the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to leave out your calling, having the ability to find your main purpose in life and pursue it is key.

[00:00:26] One way to be inspired to do this is to listen to this, the inspire stewardship podcast with my friend Scott mattered.

[00:00:36] no, I kept ignoring like, no, I don't think, I don't think it meant the book. I'm like, I'm not a writer. I'm a hundred percent sure. I misunderstood. And so he kept saying, it's a book, it's a book. You have to write a full

[00:00:53] Scott Maderer: welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly [00:01:00] desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world

[00:01:19] And tonight's Saturday night special. I asked Carolina dortay about her pivot from marketing, to living out our calling by helping others find their. I also asked Carolina to share how she's written so many books while still not considering herself, a writer and Carolina also shares with you, her hopes for her future legacy and lots more.

[00:01:43] One area that a lot of folks need some help with is around the area of productivity. Getting not just more things done, but actually getting the right things done can be really tough. I've got a [00:02:00] course called productivity for your passion. That's designed to help you do this and then to hold you accountable and walk with you so that you can tailor productivity, not just to be getting more done, but actually getting the right things done.

[00:02:17] What's more, we take the approach of looking at your personality and how you actually look at things in the world and tailor the productivity system to your personnel. Because the truth is a lot of the systems that are out there are written really well for somebody with a particular personality type.

[00:02:35] But if you have a different approach to things, they just don't work, but there's tools and techniques and approaches that you can take that will work for anyone. And we help you do that in productivity for your passion. Check it out over@inspiredstewardship.com slash law. Back in 2014, Carolina was feeling lost and looking to God for meaning.

[00:02:59] When she [00:03:00] prayed for answers, she really didn't hear an answer, but felt that God was listening attentively eventually when she asked how God wanted her to act into the world, because she felt empty inside, she heard it. She began to hear messages and began to write them down. These messages eventually became part of her life and she felt called to turn them into a book.

[00:03:20] Since then she's written four books from these messages. These exercises stretched her and brought her way outside her comfort zone. And if continued to do that for years out of these materials, she's developed a set of programs and courses and books that are directed at helping you recognize that God has a calling for you.

[00:03:40] So you can discover your purpose and be brave enough to live that out. Welcome to the show, Carol.

[00:03:47] Carolina Duarte: Thank you so much, Scott, for having me today.

[00:03:50] Scott Maderer: It's great to have you here. And as we just kinda talked about in the intro you've been on a little bit of an interesting journey where [00:04:00] you've worked in marketing and other things.

[00:04:02] And now you're doing that pivot or that change into doing your own business around helping others find their calling and purpose. So how has this journey been going over the. Several years and talk a little bit about what are the challenges and rewards what's been happening as you've been doing that?

[00:04:22] Carolina Duarte: I actually formally started last year, right before in 2020, right before the pandemic hit, I decided that I was just going to take this leap of faith and jump into this new journey, which I honestly didn't think I was going to be. Business cylinder again, but I thought it was just going to become a writer and help people and just guide them and teach them things that I've learned and it, but it just turned out to be something very different.

[00:04:50] And it's been quite a journey. It's been very rewarding. I've seen people really liking what I'm doing and I'm seeing them bringing them joy. So I really, I think [00:05:00] that's when I feel my purpose is being fully.

[00:05:02] Scott Maderer: So doing decided to do that right before the pandemic. Was that a obviously what, how did that affect the transition in the journey?

[00:05:12] Carolina Duarte: I actually, that was pretty cool because I took, I made the decision on January. I came from vacation and I said, you know what? I'm just going to take this leap of faith. And I'm in God's stance. We'll see what happens. And then in March, that's when everything started to close down and I'm like, this is perfect because I could just focus on writing.

[00:05:35] I can literally do anything else, but stay home and focus. Most of my clients were closed because of the pandemic as well. I worked with restaurants before, so a lot of them were closed because they had to, so it was very quiet time to really help me to focus. And it was just a perfect time to do that.

[00:05:55] I was very creative. I wrote seven days a week. I didn't really stop. [00:06:00] It was a lot of joy during that.

[00:06:02] Scott Maderer: And part of that is calling that out for you. It actually worked out to be advantageous in some ways. And yet at the same time, there were people obviously struggling the restaurants that you had previously worked for and things.

[00:06:17] So how did you keep your focus on your own journey and your own positivity? When all of that was going on around,

[00:06:25] Carolina Duarte: this is very hard, but also very inspiring. 'cause. I saw a lot of people going through a hard time, the same home, losing their jobs, struggling with their kids, certain husband or whatever.

[00:06:39] And I thought this people need so much to feel joy, even though a lot of things are going on around them. And I actually wrote I asked God for guidance. I'm like, there's something that I could do during this time to help people and another. Workbook was born, which is called surviving [00:07:00] or overcoming the quarantine.

[00:07:02] And that actually that became a course, a free course that I gave to whoever wanted to join, to just help them through this moment. And people are very happy. I'm very grateful that happened during the time, because there were so stressed at home for all the reasons that we were old suffering, the stress of the condemning spreading and whatever was going on in her life as well.

[00:07:24] Scott Maderer: You just mentioned too, that during that time you were writing seven days a week and you were really focused on writing. And yet you also have said that you really didn't consider yourself a writer. The other irony that I thought was interesting when I was talking with you. You are a marketing person, and yet you also said you felt very uncomfortable marketing yourself and putting yourself out there.

[00:07:47] So all of this kind of was outside of your comfort zone and outside of what you had previously considered yourself to be. How did you deal with feeling like you were being called to do things that were [00:08:00] so far outside of your typical comfort?

[00:08:03] Carolina Duarte: It was hard. It took me, that's why it took me so long because I was called to do this book in 2018.

[00:08:10] And I thought when I got the message that I had to write a book, I'm like, maybe I misunderstood, maybe meant website. Cause that's what I know that was about. I know how to deal. So that's why I built the website first. And I put all the messages that I had collected throughout the years because this year, I didn't know that it started in 2014.

[00:08:30] That's when I wrote the first message. And I collected those for years and I still riding them as well as I get him. And I build the website first and then the book, and then I have to put all those messages in one place. So I guess it's not that hard because they're already written, but Dennis starting to write more.

[00:08:48] I felt that. For whoever believes in that, I felt like the holy spirit was guiding me because I'm not a writer and I'm really don't feel like it's me writing sometimes. And sometimes we have [00:09:00] hidden Tawny that we don't know we have. And I think that I'd be coming to discover them, but it was very uncomfortable and it still is for me to talk about it.

[00:09:08] And I'm more open. I'm used to it. But they still market myself as this becoming, it's a challenge for me.

[00:09:18] Scott Maderer: So let's go back a little bit because earlier you said you started this right before the pandemic in 2020, but you just dropped in that you had actually felt the first tugs of this in 2014 and then in 2018.

[00:09:33] So how did that come about? How did hearing that you were supposed to be doing something different? And resisting that call talk a little bit about that journey and that transition. On the 2014, I just approached God to find, trying to find answers to my, for my own life. I felt like I was having a, I don't know, I don't want to say meaningless because it's too strong, but some I needed to bring more value on.

[00:09:59] Carolina Duarte: I wanted [00:10:00] to do something good. People in general. And I always volunteer. I'm always being part of nonprofits, always donated my time on my Thailand son experience, but I felt like I needed to do more. I'm like, I can't just do marketing for businesses for them to get money. I need to do something bigger or more deep, like for the soul.

[00:10:20] So I approach God. And I just ask him, I want to be an instrument of your life. And I left it at that. I didn't really think much of it, but then I started to receive this messages, which I thought they were very insightful and for my own good or my own purpose for whatever I was going through. But they ended up being very full of wisdom.

[00:10:41] So I wrote them because I kept forgetting them. So I wrote this, started to write it on my cell phone to cite whatever I felt the message was. And on 2018, the message was your mission. And I have exactly how it went on my website. You're your mission [00:11:00] is to spread the word on, teach your, my teachings to everyone.

[00:11:05] Don't judge, whoever. Literally everyone. And then he said he had to write a book that the is going to be messages of love. I was like, okay. I misunderstood that completely. But yeah. So I, and then 2018, that's when it was actually, I called, he gave me the order because that's when I felt this is your time.

[00:11:25] You have to start now. And that's one of the website was launched.

[00:11:30] Scott Maderer: But did you start writing the book then?

[00:11:32] Carolina Duarte: I kept ignoring no, I don't think, I don't think he meant

[00:11:37] Scott Maderer: I'm

[00:11:38] Carolina Duarte: not a writer. I think I'm a hundred percent sure I misunderstood him. And so he kept saying is a book. You have to write a book, but I that's what I said.

[00:11:48] I was like, okay, I'm going to build my, my, my business in a way that you won't need me anymore. And I could just retire and become a writer. And just dedicate my life to [00:12:00] that, but then it was so persistent that I'm like, okay, I'm taking this leap of faith in 2020, and I'm doing this now. And I'm just going to take the risk of leaving everything and just jumping into this journey.

[00:12:14] Scott Maderer: So one of the questions that I like to ask all of my guests is about stewardship. So my brand is inspired stewardship and that's a filter that I run a lot of my life through. And yet, as I've talked to people, I've discovered that people have different answers for what is stewardship to them. So I wanted to ask, what is your definition of stupid stewardship or what does that mean to you and what does that impact of that understanding that on your life?

[00:12:41] Carolina Duarte: I think we all have a purpose and a mission and we all have unique talents or a set of talents and qualities that we have. You don't have to, but I think it's our purpose to give it to the world. And we all are in a unique position in our lives [00:13:00] to do it with whoever is around us. And if you want to do an bigger impact than we should.

[00:13:06] So I think we have that responsibility of making this world a better place, but it all, it starts with us making us better and making. Brighter light or light. I always call that. We always say that we are beings of light. So once our light is bright, we're able to light up our lives and light up the lives of those around us.

[00:13:27] So that's how I see that impact that we could make in the world and how we just have what we need to do. And it's just a matter of realizing and accepting it that we have it.

[00:13:38] Scott Maderer: So if I could invent a machine, some sort of time travel machine and pick you up from today and bring you into the far future, maybe a hundred to 150 years, and you were able to look back on your life and your journey. What impact do you hope you've left behind in the world?

[00:13:59] Carolina Duarte: I [00:14:00] just hope. And probably not every person I touch, but probably most, for the most part, I will hope that they will find I help them or guide them to find the light within them.

[00:14:12] And that the light will impact another life and that other life impacts another life. And it will. Just light up the world, filled with lights or beans, stuff like that. Just make this world a better place. And people just more conscious about who they are and what they do when they can do for themselves and for others.

[00:14:34] So I just hope to have a domino effect that it will just one person bring light to a lot and so on. So forth.

[00:14:43] Scott Maderer: So what's coming next for you, as you continue on this journey are you working on another book or what else are you being called to do and put out into the

[00:14:53] Carolina Duarte: world last year?

[00:14:55] I wrote a draft of 12th floor. Which I [00:15:00] realize were drafts because I didn't know what I was doing as a writer. So I realized there were drafts seemed to require a lot more edit in that I thought. So those books are becoming core sets and I started with I'm starting with one that is called discover your greatness.

[00:15:16] And I'm finishing, editing that book and creating the course for that book. And later on will become one called find your purpose. So is that like this next step? So that's what I'm currently working on. And there are a lot of different courses. My goal is to have 12 courses based on the books and exercises that I believe God gave me to do.

[00:15:39] And those are just basically to help you be a better human being in general does when I'm working on.

[00:15:45] Scott Maderer: You can find out more about Carolina over on her site, messages of love and peace.com or you can find her on Enlite your life.com. You can also find her active on [00:16:00] Instagram as messages of love and peace. And of course I'll have links to all of that over in the show notes as well. Caroline, is there anything else you'd like to share with the.

[00:16:08] Carolina Duarte: Yes. There is both call messages of love and peace, and there's a series of three books. And that book is completely free available on I books, Google books and Amazon. So it's just messages of love and peace Carolina Duarte, and you'll be able to download it.

[00:16:26] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much. And I'll try to, I'll put links to that as well, over in the show notes for folks to save them some time finding it.

[00:16:34] And we'll have all of that linked up over there. Thanks so much for being here today.

[00:16:39] Carolina Duarte: Thank you so much for having me. Pleasure.

[00:16:41] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this [00:17:00] episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes rate.

[00:17:09] All one. ITunes rate, it'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.